A review by readwithremy
Crossed by Emily McIntire

dark mysterious sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Father Cade Frederic is viewed as a righteous and holy man, but lurking beneath is a monster he struggles to tame. The depraved voice inside of his head, tells him that he needs to rid the world of evil. 

Amaya Paquette is young woman struggling to make ends meet in her small town. She cares for her younger brother after they were both abandoned by their mother and ostracized by the town. She transforms into the dancer Esmeralda for work and catches the eye of Father Cade. He becomes utterly obsessed with her.  He comes to a crossroads and can’t decide if he wants to eradicate Amaya for being a temptress sinner or if he wants to make her his. 
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Thoughts (minor spoilers ahead):

First off I want to say that I really did enjoy this story. The tension, the slow burn romance, and mutual pining had me in a chokehold!!! Scarred has been my favorite in the series so far, but Crossed would be a runner up. 

Here is my only negative: I felt that there was a little too much back and forth that the romance itself almost felt like it was lacking. I’m not sure if it was too much inner monologue or repetition, but I felt like there weren’t enough interactions with Cade and Amaya for me to really feel the love? 

I was still really invested in the story and this has to be the darkest book in the Never After series thus far. With that being said, MASSIVE TRIGGER WARNING FOR THE END OF CHAPTER 46. It’s the last page in the chapter and it can definitely be skipped if you are sensitive to SA on page. You can skip this and still know what’s going on within the next few chapters. Remember to protect yourself and your mental health :) Emily does have TWs listed, but I wanted to throw this out there since it caught me off guard since Hooked, Scarred, Twisted, and Wretched weren’t too dark to me! 

Tropes:
-Priest x dancer 
-Stalking 
-Forbidden romance 
-Slowburn romance 

Thank you to VPR & Emily for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review <3
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